Hi, I’m Jody Mahoney, VP of Business Development for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. I’ve been a nonprofit fundraiser and a for-profit sales manager for years. I consider myself the like the trades people of the npo/ngo world—I’m a plumber or an electrician or a carpenter. Trends come, trends go, I keep the organization sustainable—the foundation doesn’t crack, the lights stay on, and hopefully a room gets added here and there.I love partnership development, and I negotiated the original DonorTec Partnership when I was the Senior Director of International Development for TechSoup Global. I’ve raised lots of money in lots of way: social enterprise, alternative funding such as loans, traditional foundation funding for programs, government funding, corporate support and individuals. I have a particular expertise in developing and maintaining corporate partnerships.Business development as reality tv

I found an actual website that says you can Improve Your Business With Lessons from Reality TV with tips from the American Management Association. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Dancing with the Stars, Fantasy Island, The Biggest Loser.

Lesson #5: Don’t spend the million dollars until you’ve actually won it In the business world, sales projections and anticipated clients won’t pay your bills. You need to actually close the sale to impact your bottom line. So just because you thought the sales presentation went great, don’t celebrate that new client until you receive the signed contract. You never know how something will turn out, and often things don’t work out exactly as you had planned. Always be smart and realistic in your approach; that’s the only true way to win in the end.

I am always trying to build a new, bigger, and better story line. I tell stories for a living. That is what a good fundraiser does. Let me pay accolades to The “social pulpit” a question of engagement. Bill Petch and Amanda Little talked about the power of telling stories—go check out their presentation about the Master Narrative.  Business as we know it is changing.

What’s that, you say?

Are you listening to the changes around you? There are smaller funding pools, more competition for those dollars and the traditional ways of acquiring funding is changing, with new sectors—blending of ngo and for-profit to social good; new focus on impact—proving your value. Look at CISA evolving to DonorTec to evolving to Connecting UP—from a classic local NGO to a social enterprise with a different funding stream, increased reach, new branding, I look for new stories to tell, and new people to listen to those stories. And I don’t spend the $1M before I get it…

Dog and bone, done and bone, dog and bone

This is my self-deprecating way of describing myself as a sales person to my Board, rather than as a value-based partnership developer. As a sales manager—I have a goal (the bone) and I do whatever it takes to get the bone (dig in the yard, fight other dogs, bury in the yard). Some of the traditional selling tools are very valuable—pipeline management, prospecting, etc, and a clear, and compelling, value proposition. You need a mashup of tools—pipeline management; prospecting; diversifying your revenue stream. You need a combination of for profit and non profit selling skills.

The best business developers know this

It’s about your partners…no one works alone anymore. You need to have a small army of fundraisers in place, helping to carry your organizations message of value to your stakeholders and constituents. That means that Simon and Mathew and Karen and Deanne from Connecting UP actually are mini business developers for Doug because they carry the DonorTec value proposition to the broader community. Recruit your board, your friends, your staff—as a business developer, the best messaging and leverage very often comes from someone other than yourself.

Toto, i don’t think we are in Kansas anymore…or, if you are under 50…HELP–I’ve been unfriended by all my Facebook friends…

The rate of change in this sector is accelerating, and will be impacted by many things–global downturn; growth of emerging countries; President Obama’s campaign; the movement of for-profit models into not for profit models; reach of the social web and the expected speed of engagement. I think that C. K. Prahalad and Muhammad Yunus, though their messages are different, both believe that the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ knows what it needs better than anyone else and the speed of engagement will drive that innovation.

And the winner Is…

You’ve heard all about winners today—The Extraordinaires, Birds and Bees Text Line, Connecting Up, Aspiration. Here are a few other examples but there are so many.

However, I am ending on Mark Pesce’s note, which I think is quite accurate and thoughtful. Think about why you are doing the work you are doing, and where you want it to take you, because we are all on this e-ticket ride together.